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A Study of Uranium and Thorium Migration at the Koongarra Uranium Deposit with Application to Actinide Transport from Nuclear Waste Repositories

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A Study of Uranium and Thorium Migration at the Koongarra Uranium Deposit with Application to Actinide Transport from Nuclear Waste Repositories INIS-mf —13327 ALLIGATOR RIVERS ANALOGUE PROJECT A STUDY OF URANIUM AND THORIUM MIGRATION AT THE KOONGARRA URANIUM DEPOSIT WITH APPLICATION TO ACTINIDE TRANSPORT FROM NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORIES TIMOTHY E PAYNE Being a dissertation submitted to Macquarie University in partial fulfillment of requirements for the MEnvStud degree. Supported by the Alligator Rivers Analogue Project Managed by Ansto Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation January 1991 Ansto A STUDY OF URANIUM AND THORIUM MIGRATION AT THE KOONGARRA URANIUM DEPOSIT WITH APPLICATION TO ACTINIDE TRANSPORT FROM NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORIES by TIMOTHY E PAYNE Being a dissertation submitted to Macquarie University in partial fulfillment of requirments for the MEnvStud degree. January 1991 CONTENTS Summary Acknowledgements Figures Tables PART I - THE KOONGARRA ANALOGUE IN CONTEXT 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 The Nuclear Waste Problem 1 1.2 Radwaste Disposal Strategies 2 1.3 Repository Design and Siting 3 1.4 The Need for Geochemical Analogues 5 1.5 Objectives and Outline of Dissertation 5 2 GEOCHEMICAL ANALOGUES OF REPOSITORIES 10 2.1 General Features of Analogues 10 2.2 Analogues of Geochemical Processes 11 2.3 Examples of the Analogue Approach 13 2.3.1 Oklo 13 2.3.2 Morro do Ferro 15 2.3.3 Sedimentary Roll-Front Uranium 16 2.3.4 Basalt Glass 16 2.3.5 The Salton Sea Geothermal Field 17 2.4 Koongarra Overview 18 3 KOONGARRA URANIUM DEPOSIT 21 3.1 Background to the Analogue Study at Koongarra 21 3.2 Geology and Uranium Distribiution 21 3.3 Mineralogy 22 3.4 Hydrogeology 23 3.5 Groundwater Chemistry 24 3.5.1 Groundwater Evolution 24 3.5.2 Surface Waters 25 3.5.3 Kombolgie Formation 25 3.5.4 Primary Mineralised Zone 26 3.5.5 Weathered and Transition Zones 26 3.6 Attributes of the Koongarra Site 27 PART II - URANIUM AND THORIUM MIGRATION AT KOONGARRA 38 4 MIGRATION OF URANIUM IN THE No. 1 ORE BODY 38 4.1 Formation of the Dispersion Fan 38 4.2 Uranium Concentrations in Groundwaters Intersecting the Ore Body 38 4.3 Uranium Solubility and Speciation in Groundwater 39 4.4 Distance-Concentration Relationship for Magnesium 40 4.5 A Conceptual Model 41 5 MODELLING RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION IN THE WEATHERED ZONE 49 5.1 Open System Modelling 49 5.2 The Multiphase Model 5Z 5.3 Groundwater Interactions in the Multiphase and Open System Models 53 6 THORIUM MIGRATION IN KOONGARRA GROUNDWATER 55 6.1 Importance of Thorium Immobility 55 6.2 Measurement of Thorium Concentrations 55 6.3 Results 56 6.4 Discussion 57 7 RADIONUCLIDE TRANSPORT BY COLLOIDS AND FINE PARTICLES 60 7.1 Potential Role of Colloids and Particles 60 7.2 Sampling 60 7.3 Filter Treatment 61 7.4 Analysis for Uranium and Thorium 61 7.5 Elemental and Radionuclide Content of Ultrafiltrates and Colloidal Particles 62 7.6 Distribution of 23aU and 230Th Amongst Particulate and Dissolved Phases 63 7.7 Mineralogy of Colloids and Particles 64 7.8 234U/238U and 23°Th/234U Activity Ratios 65 7.9 Distribution Ratios for 230Th and 238U Associated with Groundwater Particulates and Colloids 65 7.10 Evidence for Mobility of Actinium-227 66 7.11 Summary and Implications 67 8 LABORATORY STUDY OF URANIUM SORPTION 78 8.1 Background 78 8.2 Experimental 78 8.2.1 Solid Phase 78 8.2.2 Synthetic Groundwater 78 8.2.3 Procedure 79 8.3 Adsorption of 236U and Isotope Exchange With 238U 80 8.4 Distribution Ratios for Uranium Adsorption 81 8.5 Surface Complexation Modelling 81 8.5.1 Amorphous Ferric Oxide Phase 82 8.5.2 Groundwater Phase 82 8.5.3 Surface Complexation Reactions 82 8.6 Discussion 83 PART III - APPLICATION TO ACTINIDE MIGRATION FROM A NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY 89 9 MOBILITY OF ACTINIDES IN GROUNDWATER 89 9.1 Chemistry of Actinides of Major Concern 89 9.2 Actinium 90 9.3 Thorium 91 9.4 Protactinium 92 9.5 Uranium 92 9.6 Neptunium 93 9.7 Plutonium 94 9.8 Americium 96 9.9 Curium 96 9.10 Concluding Comments 97 10 OVERVIEW OF KOONGARRA AS AN ANALOGUE FOR ACTINIDE MIGRATION 103 10.1 Types of Information 1°3 10.2 Limitations 104 10.3 Possible Further Work 105 10.4 Summary of this Dissertation 105 REFERENCES 107 APPENDIX - Uranium-series Disequilibrium 115 SUMMARY It is intended that nuclear waste repositories should isolate radionuclides from the biosphere for timescales exceeding a million years. Laboratory experiments cannot provide a satisfactory basis for predicting repository performance over such a period, therefore, natural systems which have existed for comparable timescales are being studied as models of relevant geochemical processes. Such systems are known as 'Natural Analogues'. The Koongarra Uranium Deposit in the Northern Territory has several attributes which make it valuable as a natural analogue. These attributes include: - it is relatively undisturbed. - it has a fairly well understood and straightforward geology and hydrology. - a large existing geochemical database. - measurable levels of radionuclides of relevance to repository assessment are present. - relevant timescales may be estimated with reasonable precision. Koongarra provides a site for developing and testing physical, chemical and mathematical models of radionuclide migration. The validity of these models is dependent on the assumptions upon which they are based. These assumptions include: (a) the immobility of thorium, (b) the omission of terms for colloidal transport, and (c) modelling uranium sorption by a distribution ratio (R ). d The assumed immobility of thorium and neglect of colloidal transport appear to be justified in the Koongarra system. However, the R approach is an inadequate description of uranium sorption. As well as providing a testing ground for general models of radionuclide migration, the actinides which are present at Koongarra can be used as chemical analogues of transuranic elements. In particular, thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) are analogues of tetravalent and hexavalent actinides. Furthermore, actinium could provide an analogue for the environmental behaviour of americium(III) and curium(IIl). Uranium (VI) is mobile as dissolved species in solution, whereas thorium and actinium, whilst relatively immobile, are associated with colloids in the Koongarra system. A prerequisite to utilising these chemical analogues is to determine the likely oxidation state distribution of transuranic elements in the environment. Plutonium, which exhibits several oxidation states, and neptunium(V), which has no fully satisfactory chemical analogue element, appear to present the most difficult problems in predicting future radionuclide behaviour. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the organisations participating in the Alligator Rivers Analogue Project (ARAP), namely JAERI (Japan), PNC (Japan), SKI (Sweden), UKDOE (UK), USNRC (USA), and particularly ANSTO (Australia). The ARAP project would not have existed without the enthusiastic efforts of Dr P Airey, Dr C Hardy (who co-supervised this dissertation) and P Duerden, who has been directing the project for several years. My thanks to R Edghill, D Garton, Dr C Golian, R Lowerson, T Nightingale, D Roman, Dr A Snelling and Dr T D Waite, who have made major contributions to the ARAP study. Denison Australia kindly provided access to, and accommodation at, Koongarra, on numerous occasions. I am grateful to my wife, Narelle, for continuing support and patience, and to Nancy Payne, for very thoroughly reading the final draft. My thanks to my supervisor at Macquarie University, Dr Frank Cattell, who was generous with both time and expertise. FIGURES 1.1 Radioactive decay of spent fuel from a power reactor 7 1.2 Possible repository in basalt 8 1.3 NAGRA disposal system 8 2.1 Geology in the neighbourhood of a reactor zone at Oklo 19 2.2 Roll-front uranium deposit 19 3.1 Location of the principal uranium ore bodies in the ARUF 29 3.2 Plan of the vicinity of Koongarra 29 3.3 Geological section through the No.l ore body 30 3.4 Distribution of major minerals and hematite alteration 31 3.5 Koongarra boreholes open for water sampling and standing water level measurements 32 3.6 Simplified hydrogeological plan showing standing water level contours 33 3.7 Location of PH49, KD1, and w-series boreholes 34 3.8 (a) Uranium concentrations (KD1 and w-series boreholes) 35 (b) Bicarbonate concentrations (KD1 and w-series boreholes) 35 (c) Magnesium concentrations (KD1 and w-series boreholes) 36 4.1 Simplified cross-section of the No.l ore body (a) prior to weathering of primary ore 42 (b) present day 42 4.2 Location of boreholes sampling groundwaters intersecting the No.l ore body 43 4.3 Uranium concentrations in groundwater as a function of distance 43 4.4 Distribution of uranyl species as a function of pH (a) at equilibrium with air 44 (b) fixed carbonate of 2 mmol/L 44 4.5 Magnesium concentrations in groundwater as a function of distance 45 4.6 Simplified model of Koongarra No.l ore body, with primary ore zone depicted as a linear source 45 7.1 Hollow fibre ultrafiltration system 69 7.2 Thorium a-spectrum for 1 fim filter (PH14b) showing prominent Th peaks 69 7.3 Effect of filtration on radionuclide levels in groundwaters 70 8.1 Alpha-spectrum of uranium in solution phase on completion of adsorption/desorption experiment 84 8.2 236U adsorption on Koongarra DDH52 (15 m) sample 84 8.3 Relationship between U leached from solid and U in solution 85 8.4 Distribution ratios for U adsorption 85 8.5 Uranium sorption on Ranger and Koongarra cores with curves computed using surface complexation model 86 9.1 Eh/pH diagram for system Th-S-O-H 98 9.2 Eh/pH diagram for system U-C-O-H 98 9.3 Eh/pH diagram for system Np-C-O-H 99 9.4 Eh/pH
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